Rashid Karami

Rashid Karami (30 December 1921-1 June 1987) was Prime Minister of Lebanon eight times: from 1955 to 1956 (succeeding Khalil al-Hibri and preceding Abdallah el-Yafi), from 1958 to 1960 (succeeding Khalil al-Hibri and preceding Ahmed Daouk), from 1961 to 1964 (succeeding Saeb Salam and preceding Hussein al-Oweini), from 1965 to 1968 (succeeding al-Oweini and preceding el-Yafi), from 1969 to 1970 (succeeding el-Yafi and preceding Saeb Salam), from 1975 to 1976 (succeeding Nureddin Rifai and preceding Selim Hoss), and from 1984 to 1987 (succeeding Shafik Wazzan and preceding Selim Hoss). He was the brother of Omar Karami, who also served as Prime Minister.

Biography
Rashid Karami was born on 30 December 1921 in Tripoli, Lebanon to a Sunni Muslim family, and he was the brother of Omar Karami. In 1942, he graduated Cairo University with a law degree, and in 1951 he succeeded his father Abdul Hamid Karami in the National Assembly of Lebanon. Karami held the titles of Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs several times in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, mostly for two-year terms each. During his many tenures as Prime Minister, he was fluent in French and had a good command of English, but he insisted on having a translator, as he preferred to speak in Arabic. Karami was an ally of Palestine, asking for more involvement in the Six-Day War; in 1970, he was forced to resign after protests. In 1984, he was chosen as the new Prime Minister during the Lebanese Civil War, and he angered President Amine Gemayel due to supporting Syria. On 1 June 1987, he was killed when his helicopter was bombed by the Lebanese Forces.